FORT THOMAS – The city will be the home for a new business incubator for artists.

The Independent Northern Kentucky Artists and Artisans Business Incubator (INKAA) is being founded by 22 artists.

Union artist Parrish Monk is leading the group’s efforts to move into 19 N. Fort Thomas Ave. by September. Monk said he wants to have a maximum of 60 artists involved once INKAA is up an running.

First and foremost INKAA will be a business incubator, the gallery is secondary, Monk said.

There is money to be made by making art, and the image of the starving artist is often not accurate, he said. INKAA will bring artists together to help each other build business skills, Monk said.

“We enjoy what we do, and we need resources to do it, and many of us don’t understand the business side of the art world,” he said.

There will be education classes and business services for members on all aspects of operating an art business, Monk said.

“Our proposed location is in Fort Thomas, and one of the reasons I wanted to locate there is the city organizers like Debbie Buckley are extremely supportive of what we’re trying to accomplish,” Monk said.

Monk said the Bank of Kentucky has been generous and helpful, and INKAA is looking for a $51,000 loan to be able to get into the building. The more the Kickstarter campaign raises, the easier it will be to move quickly, he said.

“I ideally would like to see INKAA up in running by end of August or early September,” he said.

Sayler Park, Ohio, artist Alfonso B. Huckleberry Sr., said he is one of the 22 founding INKAA artists because he believes it will help artists “get seen and get promoted.”

People can see his works at art shows around Cincinnati, Huckleberry said.

“It’s a group of artists trying to bring different skill sets together to help promote ourselves,” he said.

Monk, age 43, said he makes a living, like other artists, traveling to art shows and bringing the work he made at home.

“At the end of the show I run into people who don’t have the money then or say where can I look at more of your work,” he said.

Painting and visual art including sculpture and ceramics are Monk’s specialties. In January 2012, HBO bought and used six of his paintings in scenes of the show “Enlightened,” he said.

Not every artist wants or needs to be in a gallery, but having a space will be useful for the member artists to market and display their work and grow their business, he said.